October, 2020

• 1 October

  Security Notes: Digital Transactions Without the Internet

  

  “When the Internet fades, payment dies. Alas, society runs on payment. And payment continuity is a must.” Central banks around the world recognize this very challenge, and search for answers. The importance of this topic was recently recognized in the International Conference IEMTRONICS held in British Columbia Canada, where it …
• 1 October

  Scraping Away Old Ways

  

  The data networks that connect payments and other financial apps to users’ bank accounts are scrambling to standardize data access by moving to application programming interfaces and away from an older, cruder form of access known in the business as “screen scraping.” The effort comes as financial apps gain popularity …

September, 2020

• 1 September

  Payments 3.0: Will Covid’s Impact Last?

  

  Covid-19 has changed shopping and payments behavior, and a big question facing the industry is: How long will those changes last? Most conversations about the pandemic start with, “When things get back to normal.” But all signs point to a new normal rather than a return to a pre-pandemic state. …
• 1 September

  Security Notes: A Base for Bottom-Up Capitalism

  

  Most of us will opt to pay a higher price at Amazon, which already holds our financial and private data, rather than pay less and expose our data to a merchant with unknown security practices. The net result is that the megastores keep getting bigger, and newcomers are stifled, however …
• 1 September

  PayPal Plots a New POS Course

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc. has made big plays for the physical point of sale before, but late in July the San Jose, Calif.-based company unveiled what could be its biggest strategy yet to capture transactions at the cash register. Top executives said an arrangement under way with CVS Pharmacy to run …

July, 2020

• 1 July

  Payments 3.0: Cash Isn’t Ready to Cash Out

  

  How often have you used cash in the last three months? If you are like many people, the answer is not much. For me, the answer is twice, but more about that in a minute. With the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the world, shoppers and merchants changed their habits as …
• 1 July

  Security Notes: Understanding Unpredictability

  

  Alan Turing is seen as the Moses who led us all to the promised cyber land. His blueprint for a computing machine is the foundation of all the machines that have communicated worldwide, creating the ghostly universe of cyber. It was the same Alan Turing who posed the question: will …
• 1 July

  The Prepaid Rule’s Long Shadow

  

  It was easy to lose track of it in the midst of all the impacts of the novel coronavirus, but a crucial federal lawsuit filed seven months ago still hangs over the payments industry, carrying far-reaching implications for nearly all players. It’s PayPal Holdings Inc.’s action against the Consumer Financial …

June, 2020

• 1 June

  Payments 3.0: Postal Banking? Yes, Within Limits

  

  The U.S. Postal Service has become an unlikely flashpoint in the Covid-19 pandemic, finding itself at the center of arguments over relief funds both for institutions and consumers as its revenues have dropped during shelter-in-place periods around the country. The Post Office receives no taxpayer funds and has struggled financially …
• 1 June

  Security Notes: A Tale of Two Central Banks

  

  I have had the privilege to present the vision of tethered digital money both to the Federal Reserve and to the Peoples’ Bank of China, the PBOC. My business was good in both countries, but the response was vastly different. In the United States, the financial leadership became exceedingly anxious …